Apocalypse
by bchendry
Summary: I dont own SM or anything related! this fanfic was inspired by the fanart in the cover image, that i dont own either. not sure who the artist is but they deserve the credit! Anyways, this fanfic is just Serena and Friends in Zombie apocalypse. SerenaXDarien Had to upload it all in one file because it kept doing that weird thing with the spaces, sorry! please ignore the note to self


Sailor moon fanfic post apocalypse!

S and d meet after.

Serena scared at first like usual, amy tries to find cure. Mars uses blowtorch at some point, lieta is immune somehow? Maybe all immune? Idk on that but at least Leita. Probably regular people.

Serena POV

The sound of a very annoying alarm startled me from my dreams. I had hit the snooze one too many times.

"Shit, I'm going to be late," I groaned to myself. Rolling out of bed I stood and stretched, trying not to fall over with my lack of balance and coordination. Upon opening my bedroom door, my father rushed past me. I got my tardiness from him.

"Good morning dad!"

"Good morning Serena," He mumbled, a slice of toast hanging from his mouth. He rushed out the front door as I struggled to open the bathroom door. My little brother was on the other side of it, pulling it back as to not let me in.

"You little brat, I'm going to be late! I screamed.

"Too bad, so sad!" He whined.

"I need my own place," I grumbled, giving up and heading back to my room. With the little floor mirror I had, I pulled my long hair up into ponytails, wrapping half of each into buns on the top. I wore my hair like this most days because my hair is so long that otherwise it would just be a tangled mess.

After applying the main bases of makeup I decided to go for a pinker look today, dark black eye makeup but light pink lips. Then I switched out my silver nose stud for a black nose ring.

My brother finally left for school then so I ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, then jumped into a pair of skinny Jean's and threw on an old, black cami. Before heading out myself I laced up my high tops and shrugged on my leather jacket with a "fight like a girl" quote on the back.

"Bye mom!" I yelled as I was leaving.

"Oh Serena, wait! You forgot your lunch!"

"Oh right."

My mother handed me a brown paper bag, smiling with her pearly-white teeth. My mom was so pretty, she had long purple hair and a slim body. I hope to still look that good when I'm her age.

"Thanks," hugging my mom I dashed out the door. I was going to be later than usual.

The high school wasn't that far from my house, so I just walked, or more specifically, ran.

"Serena, you're late again. That's the third time this week. You know what that means," my English teacher scolded.

I sighed, "detention?"

"Detention. Don't let it happen again."

I nodded and took my seat next to my friend Molly. She and I chatted quietly through class, ignoring the lesson. It was probably one of the reasons I didn't do so well grade-wise.

For lunch I met up with my group of friends outside under the tree we called "our spot".

"Amy can you come over and help me with my math homework?" I asked my most intelligent friend.

"Sure Serena." Amy was the smartest girl in school, she had short blue hair and a sweet smile, but she was thin, and part of me wondered if that was from all the stress she puts herself under. I mean, I'm fairly thin too, but you can tell I like desserts, not Amy, she's never eaten candy in her life.

"Great, we'll swing by the arcade and chill for a while then we can go back to my place and work on it, Leita you want to come?"

Leita was another friend of ours, tall, gorgeous, totally still in love with her ex.

"Sure, why not?" She shrugged.

I continued to eat my sandwich and looked up at the sky between the tree leaves. There wasn't a cloud up there, but the wind was strong, blowing my hair in all different directions.

"So Leita, how's your karate class going?" I asked between bites.

"Great! They say if I work hard, it won't take me very long to get to the next belt!"

"Nice!"

"And how's your gaming going?"

I laughed, "same as usual, I suck even at the things I enjoy, oh but they came out with a new game! It's called zombie Hunters!"

"Is it just a shooting game?"

"Yeah, it's got the rifle attachments."

"Well I'll have to give it a try tonight."

I sighed and lay back in the grass. My male friend (sort of) Melvin laid down next to me, rambling on about some science project. I was just enjoying nature, feeling the sun on my face and wind on my legs. It was the middle of spring, and the temperature was perfect.

"Serena," Melvin whined.

I rolled my eyes, Melvin hung around us a lot, but only Molly could really stand him.

"Did you know that-" he rambled on. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore him. After a few minutes the bell rang and we gathered our things. Amy, Leita, and I were lucky enough to have our next class together, gym. Amy and I weren't so good at it, but Leita was very in shape, and it helped that she already had a body built for physical activities.

"What do you say we just skip class today guys?" I suggested.

"You say that every day."

"Yeah, but it's so nice out, why waste it with gym class when we could be at the arcade?"

"Because in gym we are outside enjoying the nice weather, while at the arcade, we'd be indoors." Leita laughed.

"She's just dying to see her boy-toy," Amy snickered.

"Hey, he is not my toy," I growled, "he just gorgeous."

Andrew's my crush, he works at the arcade, but he's in college. He's super hunky, blonde hair, green eyes, very tall, and therefore good for hugging. He's my friend, he helps me with the harder games sometimes, but he's not into me like that, I think he thinks of me more like a little sister.

After changing into our gym clothes the group headed outside to meet our teacher for the hour. Mrs. Smith called us all over to the track to start warm ups.

"Alright everybody let's start with some stretches."

Mrs. Smith did the stages with us to demonstrate.

"You guys ready to graduate?" She asked.

"Yeah!" We all cheered.

"Then it's time to kick our exercises into gear so you're in shape for college!"

We groaned.

After ten minutes of various stretches, Mrs. Smith stood up, "okay who's ready to run the mile?"

No one replied and just as she was about to-I'm guessing-repeat herself, a loud boom thundered through the air. We turned our heads, our school was only a few miles from downtown, and we could see the skyscrapers very clearly from where we stood. Amongst the city buildings was a round cloud of smoke rising towards the sky.

A siren started blaring. The siren sounded the same as if we were having a hurricane, so we all looked up to sky, confused because there was not a single cloud up there. We all took glances at each other with eyebrows low.

"Maybe we should get inside," Mrs. Smith said quietly. Suddenly an even more terrifying sound rang through the air. It sounded like a million people screaming. Some of us started to panic.

"What's happening?" One of the students asked.

"I'm not sure..." Mrs. Smith replied.

Just as she said that, about 10 government cars drove past behind a few cop cars, sirens blaring. Once beyond our vision we heard a crash that we could only assume came from the cops, because gunfire was heard shortly after.

"Everyone inside now!" Mrs. Smith screamed.

We started running for the door, but the field was actually pretty far away from the school building. Just before we reached it, I heard one of my fellow students start screaming. I turned to find her on the ground, a man on top of her. Leita jumped in to save her by pushing the man off her. The student was covered in blood, her own organs sprawled out beside her. She stopped breathing and the man looked up at us. The blood was all over his mouth and hands. He looked at us with glowing white eyes, bloodshot and vicious looking.

"Leita get away from him!" Amy screamed.

It was no man, this was it, he began to growl and chase after us. I screamed and took my friends hands. We had already been separated from the group and when we reached the doors, they were locked. We banged on the them, yelling at them to let us in, but still they would not budge.

The dead man was gaining on us, and we could see a few more in the distance. I glanced over at my dead classmate as she sat upright. Her intestines were on the ground, there was no way she had survived that. She turned towards us, following the guy, her eyes as white as his.

"Let's try another door," Amy suggested. We ran as far as we could, there were students getting into their cars, some trying to get back into the building, some lying on the ground...and others were dead...but not dead. As we ran through the school yard, one of the students being chased by a dead-not-dead-person was Molly.

"Molly!" I hollered.

She stopped when she heard my voice, trying to find where it came from. This was a mistake, for it gave the undead just enough time to catch up to her, and it bit her in the neck. Her scream became garbled as she collapsed onto the ground.

"No!" I screamed and tried to run after her, but Leita and Amy held me back.

"I'm sorry Serena, but it's too late for her. She can't come back from that!"

I knew they were right but I didn't want to believe it. She was one of my best friends, how would I go one without her?

Molly's screams were silenced when not one but three more dead ones piled ontop of her, gnawing into her flesh. Tears flowed down my cheeks as Leita and Amy dragged me away from the scene.

We decided our best chance to not become one of them wasn't going to be at the school. It was too late for the school.

More bombs could be heard from the city and the sirens continued to blare.

For some reason we found ourselves at the arcade, but it was already being overrun.

"Andrew!" I screamed. I searched for my friend, knowing he was scheduled to work at the time. I thought maybe he would know a safe place to hide until help arrived.

"Guys where is he?" I worried.

We heard loud grunts coming from the back of the store and we all ran back to find out what it was. We ran in to find Andrew holding off a dead one with a broom. He looked shocked and confused and scared.

"Andrew," I whispered knowing that if I screamed, the same thing could happen to him that happened to Molly. But then again, this time if I screamed it might distract the dead one.

"Andrew!" I screamed. They both looked up, but then I was the one being chased. I screamed again, this time out of fear, and backed up. Andrew came to my rescue, using the broom as a weapon and bashing the dead ones head in. It took a few tries but finally he was dead for good.

"Thank you for saving me," I cried and gave my friend a hug. He hugged me back and thanked me for doing the same.

"If you hadn't distracted him I might not have been able to kill him."

The four of us hid out in the back with the doors locked and barricaded.

"We can't stay in here for long," Amy noted.

Leita nodded, "I've seen enough movies to know that if they pile up at that door well never get out of here alive."

"Serena," Amy started, "I'm book smart but I know nothing of what to do now. You've played all the video games and watched all the movies...what do we do now?"

I looked around at my friends; I had never been the leader before. I smiled because even though I was terrified, I did know a few things that might keep us alive.

"Before anything we need to rest for a few minutes to regain our strength and then we begin our journey."

"Our journey of survival," Andrew added.

Leita sighed, "I can't believe this is it."

"I know," I agreed, "it's really happening, its real, the Zombie Apocalypse has begun."

Chapter 2

"I don't know about this guys," I stammered, holding back tears.

Andrew patted my back, "it's going to be okay Serena, I know you're upset about Molly, I just lost one of my coworkers who was also one of my bestfriends..."

"I'm so sorry Andrew. But...what about our parents? My brother...he was or is at his school, what if he didn't make it? What if none of them made it!?" I cried. It had been about an hour since the whole thing went down, and already things were starting to shut down. Electricity was still going but our local news station was gone. We flipped the arcades TV to the bigger news station, and they were running through a lesson on how to kill the zombies. You have to kill them by smashing in their heads or cutting off their heads. A gunshot to the head will also do the trick, but noise will attack more of them. I also knew this from all the comics I've read.

"You got any guns with silencers?" Leita asked.

Andrew shook his head.

I was still wallowing, resting my head on Amy's shoulder. She wrapped her arm around me, but I could tell she was trying not to cry too. We all had families we were worried about.

"Guys I know this will sound awful," Leita said, "but if we were to all go to find our families, we'd have to separate. And considering the situation, I don't think splitting up is a good idea. Being alone, with no weapons, no food, and no plan...not a good idea. I think we need to stick together and get supplies."

"I hate to admit it," Amy sighed, "but I think Leita's right."

"You just want to forget about our families?"

"No, we're just saying we should worry about ourselves first, we need to find supplies, and a shelter, and then once we know we're safe we can look for our families."

"But..."

"Serena!" Leita scolded.

A tear escaped my eye and I wiped it away.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "it's just...this is a very serious situation, if we make one mistake it could end our lives. We can't help or find our families if we're dead."

I sniffled, "I know you're right...I'm just scared."

Andrew patted my back gently, "this is very scary. I mean, who would've thought that the apocalypse, a zombie one to be specific, would actually happen?"

"Yeah, none of us were prepared," Amy said, a hand on my shoulder.

I swallowed my fear, "you're right. But where do we begin?"

"Supplies," Leita began, "Andrew, what in here can we scavenge?"

"Well, all things considered, I brought my backpack to work on my essay during downtime; we could use that to hold stuff. Although, I mean this is an arcade, not a restaurant, we don't really have any food other than candy. And there are no knives or anything like that either."

"Okay so first goal, survive long enough to find weapons and food," I nodded and crossed my arms.

"There's a bar across the street, they don't open till 5, so there shouldn't have been anyone in the building when they…attacked…began their attack…whatever."

"Andrew is there anything in here we could use to protect ourselves till we get there?"

He looked around; we weren't in the back room anymore, but we had still barricaded the front doors with arcade machines. The only things we could find were cleaning supplies and tools. There was a nice hefty hammer, a broom that we broke the brush off of so there would be a sharp end, a mop that we did the same with, and an axe that had been behind an emergency box.

"So uh...how do I-" Amy stammered.

"Well according to mythology, we can either snap off their heads like this," I demonstrated with the broom, stumbling as I did so.

"So what you're saying is we have to fall into them?" Leita snickered. She always knew how to stay light hearted when times were tough.

I rolled my eyes, "guess I should've actually TRIED in gym class. Anyways, you can also take the pointy end and shove it through their scull."

Amy flinched, "I understand the whole dead-undead thing, but it still makes me tense to think about killing them."

"If there's anything I've learned from TV, it's that you're not killing them. To quote, 'it is quite a feat to kill that which is already dead'."

"What is that from?"

"A vampire movie."

Leita nudged me and took the broom stick. Amy took the other, I grabbed the hammer, and Andrew took the axe. We grabbed the first aid kit from the break room, shoved it into Andrew's backpack, and braced ourselves to brave the streets.

We peered out the window of the arcade, there was only one in sight, shuffling around with a limp foot, there was blood all over his face and clothes, but otherwise he seemed harmless. He moved slowly, his eyes glazed over as if there was no soul behind them; which would be an accurate statement.

"You guys ready?" Andrew asked.

"I call that one!" Leita said almost excitedly.

"Gee Leita, it's almost as if you WANT to kill zombies."

"Oh come on, we could make a game out of it!"

"You're ridiculous," Andrew shook his head.

Leita took a stance and opened the door. She glanced around to make sure there weren't any hiding in blind spots, then jumped out and ran over to the single zombie. He growled upon noticing her and reached out, attempting to attack. She got to him first and wacked him with the broom stick. It knocked him over but did not take his head off. As he fell to the ground, she took the pointy end and stabbed it through his skull, right between his cold, dead eyes.

"Way to go Leita!" Andrew cheered. Amy shushed him but I stayed silent. I was trying to hide it, but secretly I was terrified. These things could eat me alive, rip out my organs and tear them to shreds. Generally a slow-moving zombie doesn't sound so scary, but when it's really happening, and you see it happen to someone you know, it's horrible.

"Serena, come on!"

I shook my head and followed my friends. Another zombie was rounding the corner, heading our way. It only took a few seconds to hop across the street and get to the bar, but our next task was how to get the doors unlocked without breaking them. If we were to break them, that would defeat the purpose, the zombies would still be able to get in.

"Here," I said, pulling a bobby pin from my buns, "anyone know how to do this?" I looked around at my group of friends, everyone shrugging. I had only ever picked a lock on video games, and wasn't sure that qualified me to try here, "maybe we should see if theres another way in?"

"Why would they lock their front door but keep the back door unlocked?" Leita sighed.

"I don't know," I shrugged, "I'm just trying to think of another way in."

"How about we just smash our way in?"

"Leita, I appreciate it, but I don't think your violence is going to solve our problem in this scenario."

"Then what else is there?"'

"Maybe…the roof? Let's just look around."

As a group we moved to the back of the building. There was a door, but just as expected, it was locked. I looked around for another solution and noticed that there was a large trash bin up against the wall. With help, I could get up to the roof.

"Follow me," I waved. I climbed up onto the trash bin, it was one of those typical business ones, large enough for ten people (at least) to hide inside, or in this case, stand on. My friends followed my lead and jumped onto the garbage bin. I looked up at the roof and pointed, then looked down at Andrew, he and Leita knew right away what I was thinking.

"Girl I gotchu," Leita exclaimed, getting down on one knee and clasping her hands together. Andrew stood behind me and put his hands on my waist. Together they lifted me up and over the edge of the roof. It seemed a lot easier than I thought; they didn't even break a sweat. Before all this I never would've thought that having Andrew's hands around my waist would actually happen, and once it had, it felt weird. It wasn't the romantic, cute feeling I thought it would be. Instead, it was more of an awkward-all work, no play-feel. Almost as if it made me realize that I wanted to be just friends with Andrew, the same way he felt about me.

"Dang girl, you're lighter than I thought," Leita laughed.

I frowned and reached my hand down, ready to pull Amy up. It reminded me of the time I had to do this same activity back in like second grade on a team-building fieldtrip. Andrew lifted Amy up and I grabbed her hand, and as a team we got her over the side too. Leita was next, and she hardly needed help at all, she practically jumped over the side.

"Wow, those karate classes are really coming in handy huh?" I asked.

She nodded and turned around, she and I reached down and Andrew jumped and we grabbed him. We pulled him up, more Leita than I, and finally all of us were on the roof.

"Now there has to be a way in from here," I said more to myself than anyone else, "but at least we're safe from the streets."

We looked down over the ledge, the sun was setting and it was getting dark, but here and there we could see the silhouettes of the zombies moving about aimlessly. I looked up at the city and smoke was still rising from the middle of it heavily, as if a fire was still present, and maybe there was one, hard to know.

"Guys, do you think someone will save us? Do you think the FBI or SWAT team or whoever will find a way to end all this?" I asked.

"I sure hope so," Andrew sighed. The girls sighed alongside him. We were all missing our families.

We looked to the left at the sound of a gunshot, and saw a group of zombies overcoming someone that was trying to get away. They screamed and we realized it was too late, the group surrounded him and his screams were muffled in seconds. I gasped and Leita put her hand over my mouth, she then grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the center of the roof, so that nothing below could see us.

"Okay looks like there's a lot more of them now," she whispered, "if we're not careful, they're going to hear us, or notice us, and they'll come for us."

We nodded in understanding, and then looked around for our entrance. There was a latch on the floor, and we assumed it was a door with a ladder below. Andrew yanked on the latch but it wouldn't budge, it too was locked from the inside.

"I think we'd okay to break this one though, right? There's no way a zombie could get up to the roof." I whispered.

Andrew agreed and hacked his way into the building and soon we were climbing down the ladder. The bar was mostly quiet besides a low humming from the a/c.

"What do we do?" Amy ask me, a question I'm sure she wasn't used to asking.

"Oh, we need to make sure there are no zombies in here somehow by checking each room and knocking on the doors."

"Split up. There can't be too many rooms in here." Leita was right; the ladder had led to a back storage room, beyond that was just a big freezer, break room, managers' office, kitchen, and dining room.

Once we knew we were in the clear, we searched for our supplies. The bar wasn't exactly like a normal bar. Of course, I'd never actually been to one, considering I'm not 21 yet, but this bar had a kitchen, and it appeared as though they did serve a small amount of food, but not like meals, just chips, and some other snackage type foods. I was in snack heaven. I ate some right there and then grabbed as many as I could; after that I took the biggest knife I could find from the kitchen. Back as a group we grabbed another first aid kit and huddled in the dining room.

"Okay what's the plan now?"

I looked around, it being a bar, there was no light coming in from outside, everything was shut up, but I knew by then it had to be nighttime.

"I don't think it's very safe to go out now, it's dark and we aren't familiar with this situation yet. I think we need to camp here for the night."

"That logic is very sound Serena," Amy agreed.

"In the morning we can decide what our next step is, but for now I think we need to set up for the night to make sure nothing gets in, and we should also take shifts sleeping. Who wants to go first?"

Leita raised her hand, an expected notion. Before getting ready to sleep. We barricaded the doors with chairs and tables, and made sure the roof door was shut. We couldn't lock it due to breaking it getting in, but we were doubtful that anything would be able to climb to the roof and still manage to open the door and get in. Unfortunately we had no pajamas, no blankets, no sleeping bags. All we had were the booths against the side wall of the bar. It would have to do for the night. It was a very uncomfortable sleeping position, but I just had to stay positive. It was difficult to do so, as my brain could not shut off. I just kept thinking about Molly and my family. Who knew where they were or if they were even still alive. I found myself crying so hard I could barely keep quiet. Leita eventually came over and rubbed my back until I eventually cried myself to sleep. I woke up after Andrew's shift and before Amy's. I was tired, and it was difficult to stay awake, but every time I heard something rustling outside, I was wide awake and alert. I would protect my friends. I may not have been able to do the same for my family, but I couldn't let my friends down.

Chapter 3.

Once everyone was up for the day, we gathered together to come up with a plan. We would search for each other's families one by one, but all together. There would be no splitting up. So the question was, who do we search for first? Andrew said not to worry for him; he didn't really have anyone besides some distant cousins. Amy just had her parents, and Leita just had her mom. So because of this, we decided to find my brother first. Children before adults. So the elementary school was first on our list of places to look.

"I think we need guns," Leita suggested.

"I mean, guns would be good for big groups…but they are loud, and I don't know any place where we could get them."

"Oh I do," Andrew waved.

"Where?"

"There's a gun shop on 7th street, but it's not just guns, they have all sorts of weapons, knives, bows, blades, you name it."

I sighed, "I don't know guys, what if it's been overrun?"

"Is there anywhere that hasn't been overrun? We need a better means of defense than broom-sticks and fruit knives," Amy said sternly.

"I just hate the idea of all the violence."

"Yeah, but you yourself said-"

"I know what I said."

"We're going."

I nodded. _Way to be a leader,_ I thought to myself. I guess maybe I was just worried about my brother, and wanted to get to him as soon as possible. I didn't want to have to stop for anything.

Before leaving, we emptied out wine bottles and filled them with tap water, and we took as many as we could without weighing ourselves down. Then with Andrew leading the way, we climbed the ladder to the roof. Upon opening the roof door and stepping out onto the roof, we began to hear some sort of shuffling sound, along with moaning, or maybe growling. Possibly both. I gulped, knowing that was not a good sign. I looked at my group and put my finger to my lips. They nodded and stood their ground. We marched to the edge of the roof and peered over the edge. A large group of zombies was walking down the street, pooling into the parking lots as well. We knew with our limited amount of weapons, there was no way we would be able to survive if we were to be attacked by said group. Especially since only 2 of the 4 of us had actually yet to kill any zombies. We were forced to wait it out. It took the better half of an hour, but eventually the horde disappeared from our sight to where we felt safe enough to leave. We got down the same way we got up; Leita jumped down like some sort of ninja, then helped the rest of us get down onto the trash dumpster.

"Okay, lead the way," I gestured to Andrew.

"Stay close," he reminded, "I know a shortcut, but it might be kind of iffy."

Andrew's shortcut took us through a park, one that had a lot of tree coverage. I was constantly glancing around to ensure there were no surprises, yet somehow I was still caught off guard when one of them jumped out of the trees and tried to attack us. I had my knife good and ready, but I would still consider myself lucky that my reflexes immediately said to slash him, and I did. I screamed and his neck was sliced apart. The knife didn't go all the way through, but it was deep enough to I guess have cut the connection between body and brain, because he no longer moved after that. The zombie lied motionless on the ground, and although I needed a minute to collect myself, I didn't have that luxury, as I was pulled on by Andrew and dragged away. Tears streamed down my face as we ran, more were emerging from the trees and if we didn't hurry we would have to fight all of them. I was still trying to understand how I was able to just swipe someone's neck like that. Of course, the zombie was not a person, but a walking corpse. Still, there used to be a human soul in that body and I just desecrated it.

Suddenly a group emerged from the trees in front of us as well and then we were surrounded. The only way through was to fight. We huddled together and braced ourselves.

"We can do it," Andrew exclaimed, "swing as hard as you can and we keep going together okay?"

We nodded and ran as fast as we could. Approaching the zombies was the easy part, killing them was the hard part. Amy and I used our kitchen knives, Leita used her broom stick, and Andrew used his axe and together we struggled through the crowd. There were a few close calls but we made it out just before the other group caught up and just enough time to get away before they reached us.

Once we were far enough away we had to stop momentarily to catch our breath and get a drink of water. None of us-with the exception of Leita-had exercised that much in years; we were so out of shape.

Out of nowhere, a zombie was thrown in front of me, and within seconds we were back in another horde. They must've come through in waves, we had heard them, but we just assumed it was the crowd we had just gotten rid of. Leita was going crazy with that stick. Guess she learned her moves from martial arts class. It was so unexpected that I didn't have time to stop myself and I tripped over the carcass. He was dead-dead, but I was on the ground long enough to give another zombie a chance at me. Quickly I was being surrounded. I screamed, unsure I could take on that many.

Andrew jumped in, using his axe to hack through the walkers. Together we were in the middle of a circle of zombies, back to back. It started out well, but they just kept piling on.

"Guys!" I screamed. Amy and Leita were outside the group, working their way towards us. There was no more zombies coming beyond the group, but the group was closing in, and the bodies were piling up underneath us. I swung my knife up, getting so anxious that I slipped up and missed. I screamed, everything seemed to go in slow motion, on one side I could see the zombies arm stretching out towards me, closing the distance between us, on the other hand I saw Andrew swinging around to save me. He got the zombie that was about to attack me, but then was attacked by a zombie in front of him.

"Andrew!" I cried.

He was bit but knocked the zombie back. As aggressively as he could he swung his axe and actually chopped off the head of that zombie and also one more in the same swing. I got back to killing my side, and with help, we eventually made it through the pack.

"No time for a break," I growled.

We tried to take a second to breathe, we were so exhausted from all the running and fighting but we couldn't allow ourselves to get comfortable.

"Come on, we have to find a safe place, Andrew's hurt," I waved and we started running. We headed towards the school but stopped at the first building we passed along the way. The door was ajar but otherwise from the outside it seemed fine. We went through the building, checking for any living or dead. There had definitely been someone in there recently as the supplies had already been scavenged, but there was none there at that current moment, so we had Leita watch the door, and Doctor-to-be Amy took care of Andrew's wounds.

"What do you think?" I asked Amy.

I mean everything looks okay except for this bite. You tell me, what happens when you get bit by a zombie?"

I gulped and hesitated, "...zombification."

She looked at me inquisitively, "in most versions of folktale...if you're bit by a zombie...you become one."

Andrew knew this and sighed. He assumed his fate, "it was worth it...to save my friend."

"But what if in real life it's just a bite and nothing that some antibiotics can't get rid of?"

I shook my head, "I hope that's the case. How do you feel Andrew? Cold sweats, itchy throat, any flu-like symptoms?"

"No, none of that, I feel fine. Tired, I suppose, but otherwise fine."

"Okay well we'll keep monitoring you, for now, take these pain pills," Amy handed him some pills from the first aid kit, then began to bandage the wound.

Once done we found Leita to see how she was doing.

"Do far, nothing and no one," she shrugged.

"Okay well let's keep going," Andrew said, turning to put his backpack back on.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, "you're hurt, we need to stay here till you feel better."

"Amy, thank you for your concern but I feel absolutely fine. I want to get you girls as far as I can before I turn"

"If you turn," Amy grunted.

"Sure," he replied, not wanting to start an argument.

We packed our things back up and headed out.

"Maybe we shouldn't take the scenic route this time?" I asked.

The gang nodded and we took the more-known path this time. Oddly enough, we didn't come across any more hordes, but we did have to slash our way through a few small packs. It actually helped us get better at killing them. I wouldn't say we all became experts, but we were better. I was still just as terrified though.

When we reached the school, there were half a dozen cop cars out front, all abandoned, but two of them still had lights on. There was one cop lying on the grass beside the car, only the bottom half of his body remained.

My eyes grew wide at the scene I turned away and Leita hugged me to her chest.

"It's okay Serena."

"Yeah, I'm sure your brother is just fine," Amy said solemnly.

"I wonder what happened," Andrew murmured.

"He was eaten," I cried, referring to the cop.

I sighed and looked up at the school, one of the windows on the second floor had been broken, a shoe found on the ground below it. There was smoke rising from one of the a/c pipes (is that what u call it?) on the roof, and front door had a dead zombie leaning up against it, brain matter splattered all over the door. When we approached said door, we traded carefully, scared he would awaken somehow, but he never did. We tried to open the door but something was blocking it from inside.

"They must have it barricaded," Amy observed.

I started banging on the door, pleading for someone to open it.

"If you bang on the door they're going to think you're one of them," Amy warned.

"I have to try something! I have to know if he's in there!" I started knocking on the door as loudly as I could.

"Hello!" I screamed, "is anyone in there? I'm not infected I just need to find my brother! Please!"

I waited a moment, and then...a reply.

"No one's been bit?" Someone from inside asked.

I looked at Andrew, who honestly didn't look like he was feeling well, but maybe that was from all the exercise, "no!" I lied.

"Your brother? Who's your brother?"

"His name is Sam, he's a student here, I need to know if he's okay!"

The door creaked open. A small, older lady peered through, squinting her eyes at us.

"Please, is he in here?"

She looked at our group, decided we were reliable, and then told us to check for any dead one before coming in

We did so as she had help moving the barricade. The door then opened just wide enough for us to come in, then was immediately slammed shut. The older woman and some other younger adults re-barricaded the door then stood back and crossed their arms. I'd never met the school principal or many of the teachers, but I could only assume this was them.

"Do you have a form of ID?" The older woman asked.

I thought, "no, I don't, we were in gym class when everything went down." I looked down at Amy, Leita and I's, wardrobe, a school uniform gym shirt with the school logo, and Sophie shorts, not ideal for the apocalypse, but it was at least comfy. If it wasn't a life or death situation, I would've worried about how harry my legs were going to get, but it wasn't the time.

"Well I see you're from the nearby high school, so there's a good chance you are who you say you are."

"My brother, he's in 5th grade. Sammy Tsukino, is he here?

"Ah yes, Sammy, I'm not sure, let's go ask his teacher."

We followed the elderly woman upstairs and down the hall to Sammy's classroom. I had only picked him up from school, so I'd never met his teacher or been in his classroom before. I wasn't sure what to expect.

The principal knocked on the door and the teacher opened it, they whispered for a bit and then we were let in. In the corner of the room were a group of kids Sammy's age, huddled around

Some of them you could tell had been crying. They all looked hungry and tired. I searched for Sammy but he wasn't amongst them.

"Where is he?" I pleaded.

"We've been hiding out here since it happened. It won't be long till we run out of food. Yesterday many parents came and picked up their kids, we've only been allowing people in if that what they're here for."

"So my parents picked him up already?"

She sighed and shook her head, "yesterday morning, Sammy never showed at all. There was no call from his parent and we called them, but no one answered."

His teacher looked distraught, genuinely worried for my families wellbeing.

"So you mean no one knows the whereabouts of my parents or brother?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you for your time, we should go home and see if maybe theyre there waiting for me."

"Serena…"

"Yeah?"

"That isn't a bad idea…but it's getting late, maybe you should stay the night here and travel tomorrow."

"I really don't want them to wait for me another day if I can help it."

"Serena," Amy stopped me," she's right, for more than one reason, I think we need to stay the night." She looked at Andrew and I knew she meant because we didn't know how he would be feeling in the morning.

"Okay but we leave at dawn."

My group nodded and we asked where we could see our stuff to settle in for the night. After doing so we were shown a lounge bathroom that had a shower, and we each took turns showering. There were no clothes for us to change into so we had to re-wear the same thing, but that was the least of our concerns.

"When was the last time you guys ate?" the teacher asked.

"Um well we've been saving a few granola bars, so snack wise, pretty recently."

"We'll let us know if you need anything." I nodded and we lied down on the bleachers. They had done this the previous night as well. Everyone in the gym, spread out on the bleachers, some of the teachers sleeping, some taking watch. I had my group rotate watches too. I know we were probably trustworthy people, but I didn't want to risk anything. I found it hard to fall asleep again, but this time, it wasn't me that was crying, it was a hundred little kids whose parents never came back for them, never saved them, they didn't know if their parents were even alive, much less coming to their rescue. It was heartbreaking. I found myself so comforting some of them, as did most of the teachers. One little girl that was nearest to my group was only about 6 years old. She was crying her eyes out for mommy and daddy. I went over to her and patted her back until she calmed down and fell asleep. I was nearing tears myself.

In the morning I awoke to Andrew coughing and the current watch (Amy) trying to help him catch his breath.

"Are you okay?" I asked groggily.

"Oh yeah, I'm great, just swallowed wrong," he said between coughs.

Amy looked at me and shook her head. I know it was time to leave. We gathered our things and found the principal.

"Well thank you for letting us stay the night but I think it's time for us to get out of here."

The principal led us to the entryway, where they un-barricaded the doors and let us out."

Chapter 4

Before everything went down, I never would've imagined myself in this situation. I never thought that an apocalypse was something I would have to live through. The reality though was worse than I could've imagined. For some reason, the distance from my brother's school to my house was much farther than I remembered. I guess driving it was faster, but walking seemed endless. His school-in reality- wasn't even that far away, but my anticipation and anxiety grew with every step. We were about halfway there when I started crying.

"Just think about how happy he'll be to see you," Amy smiled, a hand on my shoulder.

"If he sees me," I sighed.

"Don't think so negatively," Andrew said between coughs. His fits were getting closer together in time. I knew he was only going to get worse.

"Okay stop, let me see your bite," I said. Sniffling and wiping away my tears to focus on my friend.

Andrew pulled his sleeve up to reveal the wound. It was bigger than the last time I saw it, swollen, bruised around the edges, and definitely infected.

"Oh Andrew, that looks bad," I gasped.

He put his sleeve back down and shrugged, "I'm okay, really."

"No you're not, this is only going to get worse."

"Maybe, but if die helping my friends find their families, I think that's a pretty heroic way to die."

"You're brave Andrew, we can't thank you enough for all that you've done for us," Leita smiled down at him with dazzling eyes. Amy and I nodded in agreement.

We rounded a building corner and our gaze was met with the dead ones'. There was a large horde of them, we turned around and ran back, but they followed after us. Quickly we found ourselves up against the wall, pushing back hard. For a moment I think we all thought this was going to be it, but we were saved by a dark figure. Said figure jumped out of seemingly nowhere with a bow and arrow, one so powerful he killed three walkers with one bow. In just a few shots he got the zombies down enough for us to pick ourselves up and finish the rest off. Once we were alone again I looked up to thank our savior, but he was already gone. All I had seen of him was that he was wearing all black, had jet black hair and a sharp chin, and amazing skills with his weapon. I couldn't get him out of my head.

I was still trying to catch my breath from the fight minutes later, wondering why it was taking so long for me to recover; it was almost as if the man had taken my breath away with him. Who was he? And why didn't he stay long enough for me to thank him?

"Serena, there's more coming, come on," Leita pushed. I nodded and followed her lead. Andrew started another coughing fit, and I knew his loud coughing would only send more coming. We had to hurry and get home.

I turned back when I noticed Andrew falling behind, staggering under his fits.

"Andrew, are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded but I knew he was lying. He didn't have much time left.

"Andrew…"

"You guys gone on ahead, well catch up," Andrew gestured to the other girls. He then sat on the ground and pulled his water bottle out of his back, trying to conserve as much as he could.

"Maybe we should stop somewhere and find you some Advil?"

He shook his head, "Serena, I think you know what this means."

"But…"

"I want you to do it."

"Do what Andrew?"

"Pull the trigger." We didn't even have any guns yet, I unfortunately knew exactly what he meant.

"You know I don't want it to have to come to that."

"But we both know it's going to. I'm slowly dying, and when I die, I will turn into one of them, and you will have to kill me either way. I prefer to go out before, on my terms."

"I…understand, but I don't know if I can do that I mean…I can't kill a friend, especially not a living one!"

"Well I suppose we can wait a little longer, but Serena you're my best friend here, it would mean a lot if you could do this for me."

I thought about my friend's taboo request and knew that if the situation were reversed, I would want the same thing. I just wasn't sure how I was going to be able to stab someone in the head that wasn't already dead.

"I'll try my best to prepare myself…mentally speaking," I stammered.

"I know it's going to be hard for you, but I really appreciate it," he responded.

I held my hand out and helped him stand. He wobbled a bit and wrapped his arm around my shoulder to keep his balance. I helped him walk the rest of the way there until my house was in sight, then I handed him over to Leita and ran like my life depended on it. I dropped my bag and dashed up to the front door, practically kicking it down with anticipation.

"Mom! Dad! Sammy!" I screamed. I ran all throughout the house searching for them but found nothing. That was bad news, but in a way it was also good news, I didn't find any bodies, there was a chance they were still alive and just weren't at the house when everything went down. My friends were waiting by the front door, keeping watch, and I approached them with a crestfallen face.

"Nothing?" Amy asked.

"Nothing," I confirmed with a sigh. Amy hugged me, "I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault. I just don't know where to go from here; I mean where could they be?"

"I hate to say this, but Serena we can't just keep following your family around, what about mine, what about Amy? It's time."

"I…I know…you're right, I can't be selfish. We have to stick together and help each other out or this isn't going to work."

Andrew coughed, this time blood spewing from his mouth and we helped him to the couch. I lifted up his blood-stained sleeve and gasped. His small bite had grown into a huge infected gash; puss and dried blood covered his arm.

"What if we cut off your arm?"

Andrew rolled his eyes, "I think it's a little late for that, plus, do any of us actually know how to chop off a limb and care for the wound?"

Amy slowly raised her hand and we raised our eyebrows.

"What?" she stammered, "I'm going into medical school, I've learned a few things in my advanced classes. Maybe not so much the chopping part, but the caring-for part."

We looked back at Andrew, I didn't think he could make it far enough to get to Leita's home.

"Well, while were here, I guess we could clean up, get some food and a change of clothes," I sighed.

Amy and Leita followed me into the kitchen. They grabbed canned goods while I went to wash my hands. However, turning on the faucet I discovered there was no water.

"That's just great," I exclaimed.

"What?" they asked.

"The water's gone already."

"That's weird, the water systems should last longer than two days I would think," Amy questioned.

"Something bad must have happened at the place that takes care of that."

"I wonder if it's just our city or if it's everywhere."

"We should see if electricity is out too," I walked over to the light switch and flipped it up. Nothing.

"Wow, this _is_ bad."

With no form of communication or source of power, we realized we truly were on our own. We needed more weapons and more supplies. It wouldn't be long before people have scavenged everything, and finding food would become difficult. We decided to stay the night at my house, and boarded up all the windows and doors with anything heavy, bookshelves, night stands, etcetera. At some point I had remembered that for emergencies only, my father kept a gun secured in his desk drawer, we found our way into the drawer and I held onto the gun, none of us had ever really fired a gun before except for Andrew, who briefly gave us a rundown before getting ready to sleep for the night. Amy borrowed some of my pj's and Andrew borrowed some of my Dad's, but Leita didn't fit in mine, so she also had to borrow some of my dad's. Together we curled up on the pull out couch in the living room, too afraid to separate. I took first watch and was lucky that nothing happened during my shift. However I was awoken a few hours later to Andrew struggling to breathe.

His eyes had a weird yellow color to them, his skin looked pale, almost blue, as did his lips. He looked like the sickest person I'd ever seen, like someone with a deadly flu. When folded the couch back up and sat him up on it. Andrew reached up, coughing blood, and put his hand on my shoulder. I swallowed loudly as I knew what he was going to say.

"Serena…its…time," he announced, taking deep breathes in-between words.

A tear fell from my eye as I shook my head, "Andrew no, you're one of my best friends, I can't lose you."

"I'm proud of you Serena, you have a pure heart. Use that for good," he said slowly.

"I will, I promise," I cried and held my friend's hand Amy and Leita stood behind me, observing, sniffling.

Andrew pointed to my gun and I knew what to do. He spent more time with me than the others on how to use the gun for this exact purpose.

"If this is really what you wish Andrew, lets at least make you comfortable first." I lied Andrew down on the couch, resting his head on the arm of the couch. I then covered him with a blanket up to his hips. Andrew relaxed his arms across his chest and smiled to me.

"Thank you."

"I don't know if I can do this," I stammered.

"I believe in you Serena, just remember what I taught you."

I nodded and stood up. I had put the gun in my backpack so after digging for it, I went back to Andrew and stood in front of him.

"I'm ready, thank you guys, for being here for me."

"Well miss you Andrew!" Leita cried.

"Thank you for all your help!" Amy exclaimed.

I nodded, a knot in my throat so big I couldn't speak. I looked to Andrew and knew I had to be brave. I turned the safety off on the pistol and aimed at Andrew's forehead, knowing that I had to get the angle right to make sure he wouldn't come back a zombie. I took a deep breath in and…pulled the trigger, closing my eyes as I did so.

There was silence for longer than I could stand, and I dropped to my knees in agony. My friends came to comfort me, and I sat on the floor in front of the couch, crying until my eyes ran dry.

The sun started rising not long after that, and we started hearing groans and shuffling outside.

"They must've heard the gunfire," Amy mused.

"We should probably get going," Leita warned, "there might be more coming."

I knew they were right, they always were. I stood up and looked at my friend for a few moments, then covered him all the way with the blanket. In seconds the top of the blanket was soaked in blood and I couldn't look anymore.

"Let's go…" I whispered.

First we had to change into fresh clothes. We couldn't take a shower, but we could still find clean outfits and put on some deodorant. I went with leggings under a black skirt and a short sleeve shirt underneath a jacket. This jacket was thick and warm but flexible, something that I could fight in, but I also needed an outfit that would work if it got randomly warm. It was spring time; the weather could be pretty unpredictable. On the back of the black jacket was a large crescent shaped moon. Amy wore some blue athletic leggings with a matching tank top, and Leita picked out some of my mom's jeggings and a plain-white tee. I was thinking about what I could find Andrew to wear and then I remembered.

"We should probably get going," I sighed. The girls nodded and we got our backpacks ready to go. With one last look at my friend, I whispered goodbye, then lead my friends to the garage door of the house.

"Anyone know how to drive?"

Unfortunately and surprisingly none of us really knew. Leita was the only one of the three that had ever been behind the steering wheel, so I gave her the keys to my father's car. My mother's car was gone, and I can only image and hope that all three of them are in that car somewhere, traveling to safety.

"We'll get there a lot faster this way."

"Where are we going?"

"Well my mom's house is actually pretty far away, on the other side of the mountains."

I gestured to the car, "lead the way. Get ready to go and then ill quickly open the garage, hop in the car, and you speed away. If there are zombies directly on the other side of the door just run over them as fast as you can and speed away." The sound of their moaning was a bit louder than before, but it still didn't sound like more than we could handle.

"Are you sure that's the safest way to do it?" Amy asked.

"We're talking to the zombie queen here, Ames." I joked. My smile only lasted a second as I was reminded of Andrew, how could I possibly smile…make a joke…when he was now dead because of me?

I frowned and gave a silent signal, my friends hopped in the car and I opened a backseat door in preparation for me to jump into it. Leita started the car and within seconds I flipped up the garage and ran dashed to the car. Leita sped off, running over a mediocre amount of dead ones as she did so.

After driving for a while a storm started rolling in, the clouds were so dark that it looked like early morning, just before the sun pops up. Leita was still driving but Amy and I had switched spots so then I was sitting in the front passenger seat. I was helping keep a lookout for hordes, abandoned buildings, and street signs so we could make a quick trip to Leita's place. My lookout skills came in handy eventually when just as we reached the foresty-entrance to the mountains I could faintly make out a horde in the distance.

"two-o'clock!" I warned. Amy and Leita were on-guard in a second, Amy and I had weapons ready. A small group of dead ones were crossing the street to join a larger group off to the side. We slowed down; preparing to maneuver around them but what we saw was scarier than just the group itself. A young woman with long blonde hair was all by herself, struggling to get away from the horde. She looked roughed up, bloodied and bruised; she looked hungry, thin and tired. It's only been a few days since this all started, but it looked like she hadn't eaten anything in those few days and her energy was running low.

"We need to help her," Leita stammered. She was right; we couldn't leave anyone to defend themselves in a horde. Leita pulled the car over and we braced ourselves. I could feel the anxiety racing through my body, my heart pounding, but I knew I had to help this girl. It was the right thing to do.

She appeared to only have one two things on her, a chain that she had wrapped around her waist, and a hatchet. The hatchet was doing little to protect her but she was swinging that thing with all of her might. We still didn't have the most ideal weapons either, but we tried our best, we killed our way over to the girl, shouted at her to follow us and without hesitation she did. More and more followed us, closing in as we ran back towards the car. The horde was getting so big we knew we wouldn't be able to kill them all. We had to get to the car. We ran strategically, like geese in flight, with Leita in front, me in back, and Amy and the blonde girl on the sides. As a team we fought our way through the crowd and made it back to the car with just enough time to speed away. We hit a few as Leita drove off but the car seemed to run over the decaying bodies with ease. I cringed and shook as I imagined what it could do to a living being.

Once things calmed down we finally felt okay to speak. Amy went first.

"I'm sorry about that back there, I'm Amy," She introduced.

"Hi! My name is Mina, thank you guys for rescuing me; I really thought I was a goner for a minute there."

"It was the right thing to do," Amy replied.

I cleared my throat, "well I'm Serena, and this is Leita. Why are you out here all alone?"

"Well It's kind of a long story."

"We're all ears," Leita exclaimed.

"I was talking my dog for a walk when everything went down; he's a huge great dane-pitty mix. I'm talking like taller than me on hind legs and super muscular. I always attach a chain to his harness because he's just such a strong dog."

"Hence the chain around your waist?" Amy asked, shocked.

She sighed, "yes, we were attacked and ran to the nearest building to hide, it was tool shed, and we got caught and they followed us and I knew the only way to save him was to let him free. I found the hatchet and chopped off his chain. He got away but I have yet to find him. I'm heading to find my sister now who I'm hoping is where he ran too and maybe I'll find them both."

"I'm sorry about your dog, what's his name?"

She laughed, "I had to go with a very stereotypical name, Tiny."

"Where's your sister at? We're heading past the mountains to find Leita's family."

"She's past the mountains as well, just outside the city. She works for the downtown police department."

"Your sister's a cop?"

"Yeah, she's quite a bit older than me and our family situation…well she's basically raised me. I'm assuming shell also be able to have access to weapons that will help."

"Well would you like to come with us, and then we can go to your place once we've found Leita's?" Amy asked, knowing her family was even further out than hers.

"That would be great, thank you guys so much. I have no idea how long it would've takin me to get through the mountains on foot, probably days."

"No problem, although I just thought of something," Leita sighed.

I turned to my best friend, concerned.

"It just occurred to me to check the gas tank; it's very low, coming up on E."

"I highly doubt there's any gas stations up here," Amy nodded.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Let's go as far as we can, we may just have to abandon the car and find a different one."

"But this is my parents' car."

"I'm sorry, but I think we'll have to if there isn't one soon."

"We should've checked that. But wait, if everything is shut down, how would we get gas anyways?"

"If the pumps aren't working…I guess we could syphon it," Amy suggested.

"You know how?"

"Oh I know how," Leita exclaimed, rolling her sleeves up.

"Okay then, we have a plan b."

Chapter 5

The car slowed nearing the top of the mountain, finally out of gas. It came to a stopping point and Leita put the ebrake on.

"Whelp, I guess this is as far as we drive," she sighed. We grumbled together and gathered our things. Exiting the car we prepared ourselves for a journey. Trekking up the rest of the hill was exhausting on its own, and once at the top, we were grateful to see a little building among the trees. It was a cute little building that looked like a Japanese shrine, it had wind chimes and all sorts of trinkets around the house, but as far as we could tell, no signs of a break in or attack. Some crows were hovering around the area, and a group of them were picking at a decaying corpse, but other than that, it seemed like a fairly vacated area, maybe a good spot to find some food or to just take a break.

Leita knocked on the door. No reply. Mina knocked again and we heard shuffling from inside. We took a stance, ready to kill if needed.

"Who goes there?" someone yelled from inside.

"So there is someone living here," Amy observed, "I wonder if they know what's been happening, living on this secluded hill."

"It's not like she doesn't have internet," I shrugged.

"Hello?" Mina called out in her nicest sounding voice.

"I said who goes there?" the voice asked again, closer this time.

"We're so sorry to bother you, but our car broke down, and we were just wondering if...um if you had any gas that we could borrow, just enough to get us to the next station?"

The door opened just wide enough for either side to see who was behind the door. The woman who spoke to us was a young girl with long ebony hair and light freckles. She was cold on the outside, but I could tell behind her frown that she was nervous. Of course, she had every right to be nervous, we were strangers in an apocalyptic world, and she didn't know who she could trust.

"Please, do you know what's happened? We didn't come to intrude, but, if you need a place to go to, if you're all by yourself, you could come with us."

"Do I know what happened? I presume you mean those things that are walking around looking like people but really aren't?"

"We call them zombies, but yeah," I explained.

"Well, how do I know I can trust you?"

"I guess you can't truly, I could tell you that we're all really good people, but all I have is my word. Leita said, crossing her heart; we nodded in agreement.

The door was opened wider and the girl took a few looks around outside, and then shuffled us in.

"I'm Rei," she said.

We introduced ourselves around and asked her how much she knew of the situation.

"Not much, I don't have internet up here. I found out when my grandpa and I were doing some gardening and one of them came out of the blue and bit him! My grandfather is very ill now, he can't even get out of bed, I don't know why.

"That's the virus, its attacking him," I said honestly.

Rei's eyes teared up and we followed her into another room where a tiny old man lied seemingly lifeless on a couch, "will he be able to get through this?"

I shook my head, "I'm so sorry, I just lost my best friend to the same thing, I think if you're bitten, you die. You become one of them."

"You mean, my gramps is gunna be a zombie?"

"He doesn't have to," I turned and pulled the handgun out of my pocket, "with this you can make sure he doesn't have to."

"You want me to kill my grandpa?"

"A shot to the head seems to do the trick."

"I don't believe you." she frowned.

"I'm so sorry Rei, it's true," Amy soothed.

"I can't do that."

"Well…you're free not to, but you'll only prolong his suffering."

She sighed and kneeled beside her grandfather, "gramps were you able to hear that?

He nodded stiffly.

"It's your choice Grandpa."

With a shaky hand, Rei's grandfather reached up to her and whispered, "do it."

She looked down at him, tears falling to the ground, "if that's…what you want."

I handed Rei the gun, "do you know how to use it?"

"Of course I know how to use it," she scoffed, tears suddenly replaced with anger.

"I'm sorry, I was just checking, take your time, well just be in the other room."

We gave the two some privacy and after maybe a half hour we finally heard that deafening sound. We let her have her peace and another hour later she finally emerged from the room, eyes as big and red as her skirt.

"Are you okay?" Mina asked, a hand on her shoulder.

"I guess…"

"If you need to talk about it, we're here for you, if not, we can try to distract you, what do you want to do?"

"Distract me I guess. I don't want to be here anymore, can we go?"

"We're all pretty exhausted from walking up the hill, but, I guess we could continue, guys?"

The rest of the group mostly shrugged and gave shy nods, "could we something first? I'm famished," Leita exhaled.

"Oh yeah, help yourselves to the kitchen, I'm going to pack some things," Rei said.

"Travel lightly," we warned.

Rei led us to the pantry then went off on her own. We stuffed our faces, careful not to over-do it, we wouldn't want any food-cramps. Mina and I decided to go find Rei, and we moved throughout the house while Leita and Amy kept watch on grandpa and outdoors. We eventually found her in her room, putting some things in a backpack. She had changed into a tight, long-sleeved undershirt and polo tied at the waist with jean shorts.

"Oh, hey guys I'm just about ready, just need to accessorize now."

"Oh you don't need to-"

"Wait till you see my accessories though."

We followed her down the hall to a door that looked like a sliding closet door. She unlocked and opened it and there were dozens of different types of weapons organized on the wall.

"Wow," Mina and I said in unison. The other two girls came to join us and they gawked as well.

"May I?" Leita asked.

"I guess this would be as good a time as ever," she agreed.

We looked around at the different weapons and we each choice two, one gun, one unconventional. Amy picked a gun that looked very high-tech, it looked like it had just came straight from a halo game, and a hunting knife. Leita grabbed a huge sword fit for a medieval prince, and the biggest gun she could find. Mina took two small handguns and strapped them on either side of her, and took hold of a bow and arrow. I took the katana and a small machine gun, and finally Rei grabbed some explosives and a mechanical crossbow.

"Okay, I think we're ready," Rei said as we holstered our weapons. We were adding more weight to ourselves, and I knew this meant we wouldn't be able to go as far, but we took the risk in hopes we would find a car soon.

As we started planning our best route, a loud bang was heard coming from outside. After the bang there was scuffling and scratching noises, and we knew it was them.

"It's go time," Leita stammered.

"Remember everyone, use your silent weapons first, guns as last resort," I reminded.

My group nodded and we followed Rei to the back door of the house. "We'll have to follow the road up to the cliff, and then we can get down to the other side of the mountain from there."

"Okay, can you lead the way?" I asked, "those things can get pretty ugly to look at."

She nodded, "as long as someone has my back."

"You've got it," Leita smiled, hand outstretched. Rei hesitated momentarily, then took it, I think she was finally starting to trust us, as was Mina.

The back of the house was much quieter than the front and Rei was able to make her first kill easily.

"You're a natural with that crossbow!" Leita applauded.

"Lots of practice," Rei replied. I took a mental note to ask for further information once we were out of danger.

The small group of zombies turned into a much bigger group once we rounded the corner.

"Why do they always do this?" I grumbled. I was still getting the hang of the katana, it would probably take a while to, but I was able to use it for its intended purpose and nothing more. I was a bit clumsy and distracted, and at some point I found myself knocked off my feet. I screamed and reached for my katana that had been tossed to the ground, all while attempting to kick away a few zombies. My friends hollered for me but my saving grace was not one of them, but a mysterious man in black. He shot a couple arrows then swiped a few more with a blade, and picked me up off the ground. He ran with me back to my friends then told us all to run. I knew I couldn't get distracted but man was he gorgeous. I tried to focus on the task at hand and told the group to keep going. We followed our original pan and outran as many zombies as we could. Once they were completely out of sight and a little further, we stopped to take a breather. All of our running was uphill, and it had seemed to slow the dead ones significantly.

I finally had a second to take a look at my savior. He was indefinitely the same man that had saved me before, and then ran off before I could thank him. That sharp chin, those solemn yet dazzling eyes, he was sort of my dream man.

He swooped his hair away from his eyes and turned to me, "are you okay?"

I gulped, as if surprised that he even had a voice, let alone was actually talking to me.

"You didn't get scratched did you?" he asked, actually seeming concerned.

I checked myself for scratches and upon finding none, I shook my head.

"Okay good," he said, putting his hands on my shoulders, "you gotta stop getting yourself into these situations."

He smiled and the rest of the world was gone. So he did recognize me.

"Thank…you," I stammered, "for saving me…twice."

He smiled briefly, but just when he opened his mouth to say something, Amy interrupted.

"Um guys…look."

I had almost forgotten about everyone else. I broke our gaze and looked to Amy, who had walked a ways from the group. We lined up next to her and followed her gaze. We were at the lookout cliff, an edge of the mountains overlooking the city beyond. It was sunset, but the clouds were so thick that on one side the sky was pitch black, and the other side was full of different hues. The sky alone was amazing, but that's not the sight that Amy was referring to. She was referring to the city below, which was completely in shambles. Multiple buildings were on fire, and a thick layer of smoke filled the northern sky. Other buildings looked like they had been blown up, I'm guessing in an attempt to kill a plethora of zombies. There was a helicopter crash on a highway leading into the city, and a traffic jam of cars trying to leave the city, although those cars didn't seem to be moving anywhere.

"I think we're too late," Leita sighed.

"No!" Mina cried out for her sister.

We stood there on the cliff, absorbing the devastation below. Lightning flashed on the west side of the sky and we knew we were in for some trouble.

"Well what do we do now?" I asked, terrified.

"I think the city's been overrun. It wouldn't be a good idea to go there," Amy frowned.

"But what about our families?" Mina said, wiping away her tears.

"It's too late to turn back though, if we went back, we would just run into that hoard again, I don't know if I have enough energy to keep fighting."

I turned to the mysterious man, "what will you do? Last time we met…you ran away so fast I couldn't even thank you for helping me."

He shrugged, "well I was actually headed in the same direction as you guys, I have a cousin in the city I was going to try to find. I was in a hurry, so I'm sorry for that, but I see now that it's probably too late anyways. Although…looks like you guys could use my help anyways."

I rolled my eyes, "I was doing just fine on my own," I stammered.

"Says the one whom I've had to save twice now," he smirked.

"Whatever."

"So you'll come with us?" Mina asked.

He shrugged, "I guess, for now, let's get down from the mountains and find a car and then let's get the heck out of here."

We nodded and ran off, knowing that the zombies probably weren't too far behind.

Chapter 7

After a few miles we had to stop to take a break. The lightening was much closer then and the thunder rumbled around us. Our bodies were sore and we were feeling dehydrated and hungry.

"Any chance we might come across a Walmart?" I half-laughed.

"The nearest Walmart is on the other side of the city, it would take days to walk to," Amy sighed.

"Well surely there's somewhere else we can camp for the night. Surely we've lost the zombies by now."

We took a look behind us and saw nothing but an eerie, dark mountain looming over us. We were getting close to the bottom of the mountain, and travel would be much easier after that, all we had to do was get to the highway, nab a car and drive the rest of the way.

"I think you're right, we must've lost them by now, lefts find a place to rest. It will be much harder to travel when that storm reaches us, and it looks like it's going to hit any second." Darien frowned.

Of course, that only jinxed it, and as we looked up at the sky to observe, a raindrop attacked my face. It was a warm rain, but once it started it wasn't just a drizzle. The rain quickly picked up into a storm and we became drenched. We ran to find shelter, and the closest thing we found was a ranch outside of the city. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a farm kind of ranch, it was just a very large single-floor house with acres and acres of land. There were no cars out front so we wondered if anyone was home or not. We banged on the door to see if there was anyone home, and no one came. Believing that the house must be abandoned we tried to open the door. It was locked.

Amy pointed, "check under the mat, most people keep their spare key under it."

We checked and were defeated to find none. Looking around we found a potted plant in the corner of the entryway. I gasped and tipped the plant over, sure enough, there was a key. I tossed the key to Mina and she twisted the key into the lock. The door opened and we pushed each other inside. Shaking off our clothes and bags, we could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Rei collapsed to the ground and hugged the floor, Mina and Leita headed towards the kitchen, Amy started digging through her bag, and Darien began to wander around the house. I just wanted to get the damned wet clothes off. I wasn't shy; I took of my top layer of clothes and headed towards the laundry room. It took me a bit to find it, but when I did I was surprised to find a fresh load of clean, dry clothes waiting to be folded and put away. The clothes were horrendous though, and I decided a towel would be good enough for now. I dried my body and soaked up as much water from my bra as I could, then took the towel with me into the kitchen.

"Serena," Mina gasped.

"What?" I shrugged, handing her the towel.

"Nothing," she sighed and took the towel, drying off as best she could. We both had very long hair, but considering mine was pulled back and hers was down, all of the water that her hair had retained was dripping down her back and soaking her further. Mina flipped her hair over and wrapped it up into the towel. Rei came into the kitchen then with a similar towel wrapped around her own long hair and lacking in a layer of clothing as well.

"Where did you find that one?" I asked.

"I went into the closet, duh. I know I just met you, but you seem very dull Serena."

I rolled my eyes to indicate that I knew she was joking, but truthfully I had no idea, I didn't yet know her personality, maybe she was just being honest.

"You girls look much drier without clothes on, I don't mean to sound weird but maybe we should do the same."

Amy looked up at Leita and blushed, "there is a guy in the house you know," she whispered.

"Speak of the devil, I laughed as Darien walked in. he put his hands up upon seeing Rei and I, both only in bras and panties, mine black, hers red, and took a step back. I couldn't help but notice him check both of us out, and for some reason, him looking at Rei made me a little jealous. Sure she was gorgeous, but I didn't believe that I was so terrible to look at.

"Should I just leave?" Darien gulped.

"No its okay," I said, swallowing my pride, "we were just finding some food before going to look for clothes. "

"Here Darien, you should have something to eat, you're probably starving," she said, handing him a slice of bread.

"Thanks Amy, I am. Is there anything still good in the fridge?"

Mina sighed, "most everything has spoiled in both the fridge and freezer."

We moved to the pantry, and although there was no way to warm anything or keep anything cold, there was plenty of dry food to eat. At least ten different types of cearal, a bunch of granola bars, dried fruit, a million canned goods, peanuts, we had really hit the jack pot.

"This house seems too good to be true" we sat in the dark eating our snacks till we became full.

"The only thing missing is a nice, hot shower," I exclaimed.

We all jumped upon hearing a thud coming from the basement.

"What the fuck was that?" Rei asked.

I looked over to her, "great, we're going to have to fight zombies half naked."

"Let's worry about more important things," Darien shushed and stood up. We had no source of light aside from the lightening that was coming in through the windows, and we knew that the basement was no exception. Once finding the door to the basement, we braced ourselves for the worst, grabbing our melee weapons in preparation.

"Okay if when I open the door, there's nothing down there, I think were in the clear, but if we hear zombies, we'll just have to board the door up. There's no way we can go down there right now with it being so dark."

We nodded in agreement. I braced myself but I was worried about what we would find. There were a couple more thuds and then a scratching on the door.

"This is it guys," we raised our weapons in anticipation.

"One…two...three!" Darien counted down and when he opened the door, Leita was fully prepared to stab a zombie through the head, but her sword soared through nothing but air. We looked down and two cats ran out the door, hissing and meowing a terrible meow. They seemed scarred of something, but they separated from each other, one going in each direction of the house.

Darien slammed the door shut, "it must have just been them that we heard."

"They probably got into a cat fight or something," Leita sighed.

"But what were those poor babies doing down there?"

"We don't know what's in that basement, maybe the owners of this house kept them down there."

"That's horrible."

"Or maybe they got in somehow down there to escape from something outside."

"Also horrible."

"Whatever the case, they're probably cold and scared; we should find them and see if they're okay."

All I had seen was that one of the cats was fully black, and the other was fully white. The white cat had run into the bedroom, and the black cat had run into the living room. Mina, Leita and Amy followed the white cat and Rei, Darien, and I followed the black cat into the living room. We found her glowing eyes under the couch and tried to coax her out. She hissed and backed up against the wall.

"Is she rabid?" Rei asked.

"I'm sure it's just more like timid," I nodded. I lied on the floor and waited. The cat never came out and I eventually fell asleep on the floor.

What felt like only seconds later, I felt myself being lifted off the floor and carried. It startled me and I jumped up, falling out of the arms and onto the floor.

"Oo, are you okay?" Darien asked.

I readjusted my buns and looked down, I was still half naked, but at least there hadn't been any nip-slips.

"I'm sorry to have scared you, I just thought you'd be more comfortable if you were sleeping on the couch. The others all passed out in the beds and I was keeping watch.

I looked around and the sun shone brightly through the windows.

I groaned, "what time is it?"

"Early, the sun just came over the horizon, but the storm has cleared and there's a beautiful sunrise."

I walked over to a door that led to a back patio, a really nice one by the looks of it.

"I need to put some clothes on," I shivered. Being without clothes or a blanket all night was definitely not good for my cold-natured body.

"here, her," Darien shrugged and unbuttoned his black polo, handing it over to me. I put on the long-sleeved shirt and hugged myself.

"What about you?" I asked.

He shrugged, "as long as you're warm, I can handle anything."

He smiled at me with perfectly straight teeth and those dazzling blue eyes and I almost melted. I suddenly became very conscious of how I hadn't showered or shaved in days and my face became bright red.

"Uh…I'll be right back." I snuck through the house, quiet to not wake the girls, and found there were three bedrooms, one was used as an exercise room, and there was no bed or anything in the closet other than storage, the next room was the master room, where Leita and Amy were passed out on the California-king-sized bed. Leita was the tallest girl in our group, but she seemed small in such a big bed. The closet had nothing in it but very professional looking outfits, pant-suits, pencil skirts, lots of pink and white. I was disgusted. I tried the third room and was surprised to see black walls, candles, and sculls everywhere. Rei and Mina were sprawled out so much on the small bed that they were practically laying on top of each other, the sheets so messed up that they were barely covering either of them. But off to the side of the bed, in a small opening next to Mina's side, were the two cats, cuddling with each other and Mina. They looked up at me and frowned, but then closed their eyes and leaned into each other.

"Now this is my kind of room," I whispered to myself. This room had its own bathroom and walk in closet (smaller than the master bedroom closet, but bigger than the closet in the first bedroom) and said closet didn't have a single item that wasn't black. Skirts, ripped jeans and band tees seemed to be the theme, and I grabbed a "The Cure" shirt, and a suspended waist-height skirt to go with it. the skirt was a little tight on me, and only went down about two inches past my butt, however it had a very comfortable elastic waistband, so it actually accentuated my curves perfectly. I began to wonder what happened to the family that lived here. Were they on vacation with the world ended? I then grabbed some knee-high stockings to cover up my hairy legs, and headed to the bathroom. I couldn't take a shower or use running water, but I found an unopened toothbrush in the cabinet, and used the tiniest bit of water from a bottle to wet it. After brushing my teeth I wiped off the top layer of this girls' deodorant and applied vigorously.

I felt so much better then, and headed back to Darien.

"What took you so long, you're going to miss it," Darien said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out onto the balcony. We leaned on the ledge of the balcony and watched the sunrise, it was perfectly in the middle of our view, and the pinks and oranges on the horizon were spectacular.

"I just realized I don't think I've ever seen the sunrise like this." I admitted.

"Really? How?"

"Well I will sometimes see it on my way to school, depending on the time of year, but I've never actually took the time to watch it, to admire it. It's really beautiful actually."

Darien looked at me with those eyes again and damnit if I couldn't get lost in them.

"What year in school are you?"

"Senior, I was only a month away from graduation," I sighed, "I guess that won't be happening now."

"Things will get better. It might only take a few more days for the government or whoever to get rid of these things, or it might take a few years, but we just have to stick together and protect each other and we will make it, and things will get better."

"We as in you and I or in a general sense?" I asked, screwing my lips to the side in thought.

Darien laughed and brushed his black hair out of his eyes, seemingly nervous. He then cleared his throat and became serious, "well uh…you and I. I want to stay with you, if that's okay Serena."

"Of course…but why do you want to? Aren't I just some teenager that doesn't know how to take care of herself to you?"

"No, you're a young woman with a big heart, and you're very smart and kind, and I love your smile. It makes me happy when I get to see it."

Almost as if on what he said forced me to do it, I smiled and looked down.

Darien tilted my chip up and brushed his lips against mine. I rose to my toes so he could reach me better, and leaned into the kiss. It was a short kiss, but it blew my mind.

"Have you been up all night then?" I asked, remembering that he had taken watch.

He nodded.

"Why don't you go get some sleep, I'll keep watch for a while."

"You are a saint. I'll be right on the couch if you need me." he pecked me on the cheek and headed back into the house. I stayed outside for a while, enjoying the warm breeze as the sun finished rising.

Chapter 8

Once everyone was well rested and well fed we were ready to continue our quest. It was the next morning, and we felt we were losing time.

"If we wait any longer, I fear my sister will move on without me," Mina cried. The others agreed and we headed out. It didn't take long for us to reach the highway from that location, and we hopped over the median to get to the side with and endless line of cars.

"It was probably rush hour when things got back," Leita mused.

I nodded, "okay split up, look for a car that has keys and gas."

We were lucky enough that only ten minutes later we found a car that had been abandoned with keys in the ignition, but the car had been shut off, and came to life easily upon said key being turned. The unfortunate part was that there was a booster seat in the back of the car, and we all sighed in unison.

"I hope they're okay," I whispered.

"No use in wondering now," Rei frowned, unbuckling the seat and tossing it out of the car to sit in its' place.

We turned the car around and drove down the side of the highway, careful to not tip over into the ditch as we did so. We drove into the city and observed how unsettling the looks of everything was. Trash was blowing in the wind; cars were tipped over here and there. There were some barricades blocking a few roads, construction projects left to rot, it almost seemed like there were no more humans left on earth aside from us. Mina was in the driver's seat since she knew where she was going, and she drove into the city from one angle, and then got back out on a different side. There was a house no further than a mile outside of the city and we pulled up to it praying for the best.

Unfortunately our hopes began to crumble when we noticed the main door to the house was open wide. We looked around before getting out of the car to be safe, and a dead one rounded another house nearby.

"Okay so there's at least one, keep an eye out guys, there could easily be more," I warned.

We got out of the car and Mina pulled out her bow and arrow and shot the zombie without hesitation. The walker hadn't even noticed us yet.

"Good one," Leita smiled. Mina frowned and ran in to her sister's house. We followed her and she led us into the living room. It was a small, old house, but it was quaint and seemed like it would've been a cozy place to be raised. Mina gasped when she found a body lying on the ground. It had been torn to shreds, I don't know how she could recognize who it was, but she did.

"This…is my sister's boyfriend."

The corpse, although bloody and mangled, I could see enough of to be able to tell that he was a cop. There was a badge lying on the floor near his waist, and a gun in his hand.

"Looks like he didn't make use of that gun," Darien observed, "why didn't he protect himself?"

A growl came from the other room and we all turned to see a young woman, her body decaying and beaten, walking towards us. Mina screamed and I realized it was her sister. She tried to run over to her but Leita held her back, "it's too late for her."

Amy raised her knife and stabbed it through the top of the zombies head. The zombie instantly dropped to the floor and revealed very dark blood on Amy's knife.

"I'm…so sorry Mina," Amy cried, dropping the knife and running over to hug her friend. Rei and Leita and I joined in on the hug until Mina sobered up.

"How can this be? What happened?" she asked.

"I should have let you do it," Amy cried.

"No, no," Mina sighed, "it's okay…I don't know if I would've been able to. You guys probably just saved my life there," she looked back at the man on the ground, "I'm guessing he didn't have the heart to shoot her when she turned, and in turn, she ate him. The same thing could've and probably would've happened to me."

She started tearing up again and Rei wiped her tears and brushed her hair back from her puffy face.

"I'm so sorry about your sister," I sighed.

"Well what now?" Amy asked.

"My cousins apartment isn't too far from here, but its in the middle of the city. Can you guys brave it?" Darien asked.

I sniffled, "it almost seemed as if there wasn't anyone in the city."

"True, but maybe we could get some answers."

I nodded. On our way back into the city, we noticed a sign written in spray paint, about a safe zone pickup on the other side of the city.

"Hey maybe that's where we should go," Amy pointed.

"What if the safe zone has been overrun?" Darien asked.

"There's no way to know unless we go and find out."

He nodded, "well let's check the apartment first and then well go, okay?"

"I bet you if our families are alive," Leita said to Amy, "they'll be waiting for us there."

My ears perked at hearing that, "and maybe my family too!"

Leita smiled, "yeah maybe!"

"Oh Darien, let's make this quick, that's where we need to go!"

Darien pushed the peddle down and the car sped up. We reached the apartment complex fairly quickly, but there where a small group of zombies waddling around the tall building.

We got out of the car and quietly fought the few zombies. They growled at us but we swiftly attacked, it only taking a few minutes to tear them down. Then we ran into the building and began our ascent. Darien led the way to the top floor and when we went to open the door, it stuck. Darien took a step back and used her shoulder to push the door open. There was something behind it, blocking it, but he was able to open it just wide enough for us to squeeze through, Leita went first and Darien last, and on the other side of the door we saw what had been blocking it. It was heavy furniture, stacked up to protect whoever might be on our side. The long hallway reminded me of a hotel, and the back-up generator was still running, so there was electricity, which gave us hope, but you could tell something had gone down in these hallways. There were dead bodies spread out all over the floor, some you could tell had died fighting for themselves, others were zombies that never stood a chance. It was otherwise quiet aside from a flickering florescent above our heads, the panel underneath the light and the ceiling tiles next to it broken through.

"Eyes and ears open everyone," Leita reminded.

Darien led us to his brother's apartment, passing many doors that had been broken down or torn through or scratches relentlessly. At the end of the hallway, we nervously opened the door, fearing the worst. We sighed in relief noticing that so far, everything seemed intact. The apartment was cleaner than I've ever seen, almost as if it was more like a hotel that had just been cleaned by room service than a grown man's apartment. We searched the apartment and there was no sign of him, but there was also no body, so we still had hope.

Leita called out from the kitchen and we ran in to see what was up. It was a note, dated two days ago.

"Darien, I don't have much time, I can hear them fighting for their lives out in the hallway. I can't stay here. You can't stay here, it's not safe. I'm leaving. I'm going to crawl out the fire escape and I'm going to find you. If you read this, I hear they're planning a safe zone. If it's true, I will wait for you there. Love you Bro."

"Well the grammar and spelling is horrible, but I'll let it slide, all things considered." Amy grinned, trying to keep things light.

I rolled my eyes at her, "Darien, this is it, he's alive, and he's waiting for you at the safe zone, let's go!"

"You're right, let's go!" Darien folded the note and stuffed it in his pocket, and we followed his brother's lead and climbed out the window onto the fire escape.

"Um guys, take a look," Leita pointed out. We followed her finger and saw a gigantic horde heading our direction, much closer that we were comfortable with. Hundreds of dead ones were following the street that led to the apartment.

"How did we not see or hear them sooner?" I gaped.

"No time to question it Serena, we have to go!" Rei pushed and we ran down the stairs as fast as we could, the bottom of the stairs was two stories up and the ladder only extended so far. Darien went first, dropping down and twisting his ankle in the process.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, "he looked out to the street, they were closing in, "hurry!"

I jumped into his arms without hesitation, and then the rest of the girls followed. We raced around the building to get to the car but they had already reached that side.

"How!" I screamed, just genuinely so confused on how they just popped up so quickly. But there was no time to worry about that, we had to flee. We turned away from the walkers, knowing we couldn't fight that many off, and ran as fast as we could.

"We can't run forever!" Amy cried, I could tell her stamina was running out, and so was mine.

We came upon a construction sight that was fenced in and barricaded with road blocks, so we jumped up and climbed the fence and took a sec to breathe.

"Okay we have to find a new car now I guess." Mina said.

"Wait look!" Rei gasped.

It was another sign for the safe house, pointing in which direction to go.

"Let's go that way, and if we find a car along the way, well take it!" Leita suggested.

We nodded and began running again. I looked back and saw the walkers heading towards the fence. I hoped it would hold up against them. We found a car a few blocks later but there were no keys. It was a very old car, and hot wiring it didn't seem to want to work either.

"Let's just try the next one, "I yelled, knowing it wouldn't be long before they tore that fence down.

So a few more blocks later we found a car with keys left in the ignition. They must have abandoned their car just like all those people on the highway. The tank was empty but we were graced with a gas can in the trunk. We filled it halfway before beginning to hear the growls coming from the hoard.

"They're getting closer, come on!" Darien started the car and we sped off, leaving the zombies unfed and unsatisfied behind us.

"Whoo we did it!" Mina exclaimed.

I gaped, "I'm so glad, but its not over, we have to get to the safe house."

We drove a few miles to the outskirts of the city on the north side, the closer we got, the more graffiti signs we saw. It was a building that looked like it was just about finished with construction, so it was completely fenced in. although it was in the bad section of town so there were barbed wire on the fences. Aside from that there were man-made trapps and anti-zombie barricades as well. It was heavily guarded by soldiers including tanks and swat cars.

We walked up to them and told them what happened and they let us in, leading us to a table with food and water.

"The helicopter comes and goes on the hour, wait here for a few minutes and then we can take you to the safe-zone." One of the soldiers told us.

It sounded too good to be true but we were also just so happy to see other living beings, especially ones that we knew would protect us. The helicopter arrived not much longer and we all headed to the roof to get on.

The helicopter ride felt like it was taking forever, but the view was crazy. The sun was setting and you could see the hoard below. Some were still stuck to the fence, others were working their way through the city. They walked together, almost like a pact. The building that had been on fire a few days ago was still smoking, completely collapsed at that point. I looked up and the mountains were shrinking before my eyes, I couldn't tell if I was happy, sad, scared, maybe all three, there were just so many things going through my head, but Darien took my hand in his and squeezed it comfortingly. I turned to him and he kissed my forehead.

"We're okay now, that's what matters," he smiled. I nodded, he was right. Even if the safe house doesn't have what we're looking for we all still had each other.

A while later we landed on the roof of a very large building resembling a hospital or science lab or something. The guards led us to a communal room where everyone was eating dinner, and we searched for our families. There were so many people it was difficult to tell who was who. I saw one of my neighbors, one of my brothers friends, one of my dad's coworkers, but not my family. Until I heard someone calling my name.

"Serena!" my mother called out to me from a table in the middle of the room, she and my brother got up and we ran to each other. From my peripheral view I noticed Amy seeing her family and doing the same.

"Mom! Sammy!" I cried into their arms. My little brother used to be a pain in my ass, and now I couldn't imagine would I would've done if he'd not been at this safe house. I loved them so much.

"Oh Serena, we are so glad you're okay! When we heard about you're school we thought we'd lost you!" Mom cried.

"I escaped! My friends, they all helped me, but Mom, where's Dad?"

My mom sighed and Sammy started to tear up, "he died, protecting us."

"But what happened? Where were you guys? I went to Sammy's school and his teacher said he never showed up that day."

Mom nodded, "we got caught up in traffic and Sammy started feeling really ill, he threw up in the car. Your dad and I took him back home to get some rest and your dad just decided to stay home from work. We were going to take him to the doctor's office when everything happened."

"So Dad, he's really gone?"

"I'm so sorry Serena; I hope you know how much he loved you."

I nodded and cried. Darien came up behind me and patted my back. I gave him a hug and tried to stop my tears, then introduced him to my family.

After showering (and shaving) and getting something to eat, my group got back together. it turned out that Darien's brother never made it, and the whereabouts on Leita's family were unknown. I felt bad for them, and I also felt bad for Mina and Rei for losing their family members, but we made a pact to stay together no matter what. I loved my friends and I would do anything to keep them safe. From then on, the six of us, we were family.

Note: Weapons on page 33.


End file.
